When Dagmar Smit worked at a glass factory one summer as a teenager in then-Czechoslovakia, she never imagined she would one day use the expertise she gained there to design flacons for her own luxury fragrance house.
Yet in 2012, she fulfilled a lifelong ambition by launching Elegantes London in partnership with her British investment banker husband, Thomas.
Today, their haute couture perfumes are in hot demand in stores worldwide, including Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. The Week Portfolio caught up with former hotelier Smit to find out how she brought her dream to life.
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I have always been passionate about perfume and longed to make my own. My husband played a role in taking The Body Shop public, along with other M&A transactions in the cosmetic industry, and we felt we had the drive, expertise and contacts to create a perfume house that would redefine timeless elegance and opulence in the contemporary world.
The brand’s name, Elegantes London, was inspired by a quote we discovered etched in a granite archway in Prague that resonated with us: “Elegant people of our time are honourable people who pass on their values to others - 1599.”
What sets Elegantes London perfumes apart?
It took us two years of research to establish Elegantes London. We analysed the market to fully understand how the fragrance industry had evolved, and qualified the difference between fragrance and perfume. We then examined multinationals’ dominance in the markets on a global scale. Our findings were astonishing. The amount of pollutants and chemicals used in the fragrance sector in no way fitted with our vision.
Elegantes London is a perfume house built on the values of integrity and passion. Each collection is made up of many components. The first is the rare and natural ingredients, which are hand-picked and extracted in a traditional way. For example, it may take years to obtain as little as 1kg of pure rose oil.
The crystal flacons are made by glass-and-crystal artisan Waltersperger in Normandy, which has been operating for 103 years and still uses the same techniques passed down from generations before. Due to the intricacies of the designs, and complexity in the melting, cooling and polishing process, only 20% of each day’s production makes it to the final stage.
Elegantes London is not about price, it’s about quality. Each stage of the production has been created by hand and the precious values encapsulated in each unique flacon are priceless.
What are your working processes when creating a perfume?
It starts off with defining the person and personality that will wear a new creation. Every Elegantes London perfume has been brought to life by our “nose”, Julien Rasquinet.
Julien is the prodigy of legendary perfumer Pierre Bourdon and was responsible for pioneering scents including Frederic Malle Iris Poudre and Davidoff Cool Water. When we first discussed the concept of Elegantes London with Julien, we gave him no constraints on expense or time, the remit was simply to create an incomparable collection.
Using his experience and expertise, Julien identified the world’s rarest and most exceptional ingredients, and four years later, presented us with the first of our collections, featuring 12 exquisite perfumes, called the Heritage Collection.
Priced from £750, each of the perfumes is presented in crystal flacons, in either 50ml or 200ml sizes, that are crafted from a bespoke four-piece mould and hand-polished for eight to ten hours. The shape of each flacon in our feminine range is reminiscent of the swirling skirts of a haute couture ball gown, inspired by my husband’s mother, and from beneath evokes the petals of a flower. The cap is inspired by a brilliant-cut diamond with 85 facets and is hand-finished.
When we designed the feminine flacons, we felt it was important for them to be refillable or reusable and transformed into timeless keepsakes. The same is true of the masculine flacons, which take the form of a black quartz stone and are created from a black crystal that is hand-polished for eight to 14 hours.
You recently launched your Elusive and Personality collections - what are they?
The Elusive Collection, priced at £3,000 for 200ml, offers very special limited editions, each presented in a unique way. The collection is presented in a distinctive black crystal flacon, produced by an ancient process which involves heating the crystal to 2,200C to achieve the black colour, each weighing 1.4kg and designed to hold 200ml.
The whole process takes 30 days, which includes blending the sand, crystal and processed crystal, using a secret formula, followed by completion of the polishing process. After the black crystal has been produced, both the furnace and the mould have to be cleaned to prevent any contamination of clear crystal. The cleaning process alone takes two weeks. Only 50 of these Black Opera flacons have been produced and two scents are currently available – Cashmere Elusive and Rose Musk Elusive.
We’re planning to extend the Elusive Collection with the introduction of six new perfumes of pure indulgence. Our team have travelled the world to source the world’s rarest ingredients for this collection, and each owner of a Black Opera flacon will be entitled to one refill per year for three years at no extra cost.
Our other new range, the Personality Collection, is a natural extension of the Heritage Collection and is available in all 12 scents from Harrods, for £440 for 100ml. The perfumes have been developed to suit a range of very special personalities.
Again, the team has travelled worldwide to source the finest ingredients, championing small farmers and producers who share the Elegantes ethos of sustainability and passion for excellence. No stone is left unturned, whether on remote islands sourcing the most sustainable vetiver, or searching out the best source for hand-picked flowers for rose oil.
If you were choosing an Elegantes London fragrance that sums up your personality, which would it be?
It would definitely be Rose Elegantes. In fact, Julien said that when he developed the scent, he envisaged me walking through a garden, collecting fresh roses.
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Kari Wilkin is The Week Digital’s global managing editor. She joined the UK site as production editor in 2017, after moving across from The Week magazine. Her career as a journalist began as a sub-editor at newspapers including The Sun, Metro, the Daily Star and News of the World, followed by stints at Elle and Asda Magazine. She also helped to launch the UK edition of Women’s Health magazine, as chief sub-editor with a sideline in writing; has penned travel and lifestyle articles for titles including The Telegraph and The Sun; and is a contributor on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast.
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